James Potter and The House of the Serpents
by hannaheart1497
Summary: James Potter,head auror is pulled back into the world of Hogwarts to investigate the death of fourteen year old Rosina Malfoy,he has to learn to navigate the world of the House of Slytherin, find a way to find the murderer before he claims his next victim and it all seems to lead to a small group of friends, Neville Longbottom, Luna Lovegood, Ginny Weasley and Cressa Snape ,MPREG!
1. Files and Curiosities

**_AN:/ Okay here's the disclaimer, all book characters belong to J K Rowling and I claim no copyright to any of them, the only characters I own are the ones I made up. Please review, constructive criticism welcomed, please be nice! this is my first story_**

During his years in Hogwarts James could freely admit her was a bit of a smart arse, okay a huge one, In his seventh year the object of his teenage obsessions finally gave him the time of day, Lilly Evans finally said yes and for a short time everything was great until he saw a side of her, that made him regret ever wanting to be with her.

_James was doing a late night patrol, part of his duties as Head Boy, the quiet of walking through the dark corridors gave him a sense of calm and peace he only had ever felt in the air during Quidditch games. For the past few weeks Lily had been acting strangely, less willing to spend time together and always rushing of but he guessed she was busy studying as usual. Just finishing his rounds he heard a faint giggling sound coming from the transfiguration corridor, a smirk crossed his face - if you asked any fellow marauders that smirk meant trouble-, this was another perk, catching couples doing "inappropriate actions" ._

_With his signature smile in place he threw open the door with a shout " Well, well ... Lily?" he finished in a croak, not quite believing his eyes but there she was, shirt unbuttoned, bent over a desk with his supposed best friend Sirius Black attached to her neck. They sprang apart, Lily leaning on the desk with a smirk adorning her once pretty features, now all he saw was a monster, a user and abuser, this was her study time? He thought. " James..." Sirius started to say, reaching towards him, James just shook his head, tears building up in his eyes and with a poisonous glare, he turned and ran from the room._

It had been almost seventeen years since that day, James had never forgiven Sirius and completely went out of his way to avoid Lily Evans (nicknamed the bitch by Moony and Wormtail) and now at the age of 33 he was Head Auror, single and living a bachelor lifestyle, he despised it.

"Morning Auror Potter!" a ministry official called toward him as he passed, James gave a smile and a nod of his head, he loved his job it was just hard having everyone knowing his name, knowing who he was by his reputation and having no family to go home to, no pictures to put on his desk, no being able to say "thats my..." or "yes these are my children. He had changed a lot from his school days, no more messy hair or his arrogance, it actually sickened him to think he had acted like that.

Now back to the present, sitting at his desk looking over the case files he had been given, flicking through them he came to a halt at one name jumping out at him:

**_Name: Severus Snape_**

**_Age: 33_**

**_Cause of Death: Murder (suspected result of illicit activities)_**

**_Familial Notations: Left behind one daughter, Cressa Aylena Snape, aged 17, soon to start her seventh year at Hogwarts, close relations to Zabini and Greengrass families._**

That was a bit strange, during the height of the war Snape had been suspected of death eater activity but then suddenly dropped of the radar, he hadn't even knew Snape had a daughter, but looking at the timing of his vanishing act and the age of his daughter, it kind of made sense.

Incanting "expecto patronum" his familiar eagle appeared, he never knew why it took this form, "Hi Harris, do you think it would be possible for me to get a copy of a file under the name Cressa Snape, thanks! Potter". Watching the silvery form disperse, in the expected five seconds a slim gray file appeared on his desk, opening the file up he found a few things that just didn't add up:

**_Name: Cressa Aylena Snape_**

**_Age: Seventeen_**

**_Birth Date: 16th May 1980_**

**_Bearer: Severus Snape_**

**_Dominant Father: Unknown_**

**_Blood Status: Undetermined_**

**_Notes: Miss Snape appears to have great talent in the fields of Defense, Potions and Transfiguration, she currently is a seventh-year Slytherin at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, she plays chaser on her house Quidditch team._**

What else stunned James, -apart from Snape being gay and a bearer!- was how the hell someone as unattractive as Snape produced someone who looked like her!, The girl had china- pale skin, with small delicate features and a mane of soft,silky looking red hair, the only thing she seemed to have inherited from her father was the piercing onyx eyes, seemingly scanning his soul even through the photo.

A knock on the door shocked him out of his staring match with a photo! (not that he would ever admit that!) Looking up he saw Kingsley Shacklebolt at his door with an almost terrified look on his face, "Boss, sorry to disturb you but we need to get a team over the Hogwarts immediately, there's been a murder, one of the students".

A murder? at Hogwarts that hadn't happened for years, "Okay let's go, but whose the victim and why do you look as if you've come out of a fist-fight with a dementor" he said trying to lighten the mood but Kingsley still looked as grave as before, " the murder victim is Rosina Malfoy sir..." well shit James thought, just what he needed to deal with today.


	2. Birth of a Snowflake (Severus Story)

Doubling over with the pain shooting through his belly, Severus Snape tried to keep on running and moving, crashing through branches, trying to make it to his destination, he needed to, for the sake of his baby girl, his little Cressa. Pushing through towards the dark looming form of the Whomping Willow, he finally made it to the doors of Hogwarts school, the one place he had sworn never to go back to again but now he had no other options.

He pushed and pushed himself until he finally collapsed just inside the Hospital Wing doors, Poppy cried rushing towards him, barely even blinking at the site of his swollen abdomen, she help him over to a bed and quickly got to work asking the usual questions, how far apart were his contractions?, was he getting ready to push?, he was panting and screaming at the top of his lungs, surely that was a clear sign he was in labour!

After what seemed like an age, he finally had his precious bundle in his arms, with her perfect clear skin, small tiny features and through her tiny slitted eyes, he could see she had inherited his shiny onyx eyes. Severus had never seen anything more beautiful in his entire life, no one could ever hope to compare to this tiny creature, not in his eyes. "she's beautiful Severus, congratulations" the voice of Albus Dumbledore came to his ears, "thank you, if you hadn't let us come here I don't know what would have happened to us", "Let us fill in the birth certificate, this is a joyful day for us all!". As Severus filled in the certificate, he could see the looks of pure shock on their faces at the name of the Dominant Father, well since the other father had been obliviated of their entire affair they should be, it had to happen but there was no other choice and now he felt as if he had been ripped in two but Cressa was slowly filling up a third place there.

Dumbledore started but he quickly cut him off, he looked at him beseechingly, Albus and Poppy both swore their oath, vowing never to reveal the father of his child, if the Dark Lord found out who she was destined to be, there would be a death sentence on her head for sure, he couldn't risk that, he would die first. He spent the next few days settling in to hogwarts and trying to control Cressa's new powers. Right now he was running around the room, well slipping would be the more appropriate word, while his little daughter sat on the table giggling away, eyes blazing the colour of fresh ice. Snow flakes in small simple patterns flecked around the room, suddenly there was a knock on the door.

"Cressa, Snowflakes" Severus said to his daughter, putting a finger to his lips, immediately her eyes faded back to their usual onyx shade and the snow melted and faded away.

Hours later, during the night Severus sat at his desk looking at papers, sighing his thoughts filled of his love and the fact he would never know the beautiful being they had created together, it was soul destroying. Looking over his daughters birth certificate again, he made his decision, if something were to happen to him someone had to know the truth, putting a copy of her birth certificate, a vile of pensieved memories and a letter in an ice blue box decorated with silver swirls, hoping this would never have to be used, he sent it away to Gringotts by owl, telling them to send it to the vaults and only to be delivered on his death.

Griphook looked over the contents of the box curiously and gave a harsh laugh when he read the certificate, , the certificate read:

**Name: Cressa Aylena Potter-Snape **

**Birth Date: May 16th 1980 **

**Bearer: Severus Snape **

**Dominant Father: James Potter**

**AN/ Sorry this is only a short chapter, but I really wanted this to be included early in the story,just a little look into Severus' thoughts and feelings since he's well dead in the main story, well hope someone enjoys this! :) bye bye**


	3. Murder In Hogwarts

Sitting in the Slytherin common room in her usual spot, half hidden in shadow by one of the few windows, it was one thing she had learned during her time here, she had to conceal herself and no one could know who she was, just like her father told her "you have to be unnoticeable, be unremarkable, the opposite of who you are". Cressa had kept to those simple rules, never breaking them, she had only three friends but that was okay, they were just like her, they were "_different"_.

It was hard growing up with her secret, the fact that whenever she got angry or sad things literally froze over, she made snowstorms out of thin air, once she got so angry she froze her father's hand solid. It terrified her of how out of control her powers got, then she finally met someone who set her on a path she would never take back for anything, she met Neville,

_Cressa was walking through Diagon Alley, she had got seperated from her father, the crowd just kept pushing,shoving and she felt like she couldn't breathe, she could feel the relay race her heart was going, the feeling of ice running through her veins, she had to get out of here! _

_Then someone ran into her side and knocked her down steps into what looked like a darker version of Olivanders, Elemental Obscura, it was called, hesitantly she pushed the door open and rushed inside, this place seemed safer than out there. "Hello.. " she called out hesitantly not sure what to do, the place was dark and musty, with walls lined with so many books, it should have been impossible for them all to fit._

_"hi, were you pushed in here to ?" a voice came from one corner of the shop, "come out, let me see you" she called, a hint of nervousness in her voice, she heard someone suck in a deep breath and a foot came into light. It was a boy, slightly pudgy with round cheerful features, leafy green eyes and a shy tentative smile, "I'm Neville Longbottom, you are ?" he asked, "Cressa, Cressa Snape, do you what this place is ?" Neville shook his head in reply, he reached out to shake her hand and the second they touched it was like a shock of fire ran through her, Cressa could feel her skin almost burning, looking at him, his skin was paling as If he had gone... oh god ice cold!, she thought._

_She sprang away from him and threw herself against the nearest wall, a mini-wall of Ice raised itself in front of her, "stay away! I don't want to hurt you!" looking at him Cressa gave a gasp, in front of him was a wall of pure earth, rocks and dirt sticking out like small daggers, ready to attack. "You're like me...?" Neville said, a cautious look adorned his face, the wall of earth slowly made its way back to the ground, it didn't look as if he was going to attack her, so she dropped mine too. "I've always been able to do this, father said I could do it before I could even walk" Cressa said, " me too..." Neville replied looking slightly in awe, but there was one emotion she could relate to, because she felt it to, the feeling of pure relief that she wasn't alone, she wasn't a freak!._

Cressa smiled to herself, that was the beginning of the best decision of her life, to find someone else who knew what it was like to have no control over something you couldn't understand, like taking a breath of fresh air. Together Neville and she worked to learn to conceal and control their powers, with the help of her father and Neville's Grandmother they could find new ways to help stop themselves from loosing control. They had never told Professor Dumbledore what they could do, despite Father trusting him with certain things, he said that this particular secret was to important for anyone to know, even him.

The sound of the wall leading to the common room opening made everyone -not just her- look up, earlier today in the middle of their transfiguration lesson, Draco Malfoy had been taken out of the lesson and lead away somewhere and no one had heard or seen him for the rest of the day. Strangely enough no one had seen his sister Rosina either, Rosina was everything a Slytherin should be by the house standards, Beautiful, Poised and Perfect, she never missed a lesson, it unsettled everyone in the house.

In walked their head of house, Professor Sinistra and there were at least three auror's with her, none of who she recognised. "Good, everyones here, I have something of grave importance to tell _all _of you and you will listen" she said this all in her usual low tone, never raising her voice, people exchanged glances all around the room, what could be so important that auror's had to be called in ?. "I am sorry to announce that today just after breakfast the body of Rosina Malfoy was found" she couldn't get anymore words out as there was an explosion of sound in the room, people shouting over each other, people shouting at each other, no one could fathom that the slytherin princess was dead, it just wasn't possible!.

"QUIET!" Sinistra roared, the loudest any of them had heard her, they were stunned into silence, "now each and every one of you will be questioned and we _will_ find out who is responsible for this crime, now everyone to bed the questioning will begin in the morning".

They all went to bed quiet that night, in the safety of her room Cressa rushed to the small box on her desk and pulled out her two-way mirror, "Neville" she called and eventually his face appeared before her, he looked just as tired as she knew she was, "Cress! thank merlin, Did you hear about the Malfoy situation! we're going to have to be careful the next few weeks", "Don't you think I know that! just get in touch with the other's somehow, the whole of slytherin's under house arrest until morning", "I will, see you tomorrow, usual place and stay cool", Neville's face disappeared and she was left with an uncontrollable

feeling of dread. After getting washed and changed into pyjama's, she lay down in her bed in the dark repeating the words her father always told her_ " Conceal, Don't let it control, never let go" _finally after a few hours she fell asleep, what she didn't notice was the frost climbing the windows.

The next morning walking into the Great Hall, the other house's looked, stared and whispered to each other, no one brave enough to dare question the house of snakes. Draco was there, sitting at the end of the table, away from everyone else, his eyes were rimmed red and he was paler than usual, Cressa found the others looking at her across the room but she couldn't make any movement towards them, today she had to be part of the unified front that was Slytherin. The door's opened revealing what looked like a troop of Auror's led by the Infamous James Potter, everybody in the wizarding world had heard of him, she could guess that he was handsome but for some reason he had never married, _must be lonely_ she thought.

Taking a place in front of the Head Table, Potter began to speak, "Hello everyone, I wish I could be here on better circumstances but we have a murder to investigate, we will do this House by House, starting with Slytherin as that is where Miss Malfoy spent a majority of her time, thank you". Of course, it was always Slytherin they started with, the _evil house_, Merlin was it to much to ask for them to be treated normally ? Cressa thought, the breakfast she ate that morning tasted stale, that seemed to be the general feeling through the table, Rosina's friends were emotionless on the outside but she would bet on the inside they were screaming for answers.

The entire day people were pulled out of classes, led away at lunch and slowly her anxiousness increased, the feeling of ice ran through her fingertips.. she was only _just _keeping herself in check. Classes were blur, all her concentration went into keeping calm and trying to stop the rising terror running through her, she couldn't let anyone know what she was, it wasn't just her at risk anymore, it was the other three too.

Then it came, an auror came to her at dinner, "Miss Snape, please come with me Captain Potter will see you now", nodding in reply I rose up on shaky legs and followed him through the castle, we eventually reached the office usually reserved for the DADA professor but it was set up with papers and pictures all around and sitting at the desk was James Potter himself, "Miss Snape" he said with an almost hesitant smile, "please sit down".

**AN/ Hi everyone! well this already has more views that I thought it would! so thats good, but please can someone ****review, just so I have some feedback or something! well if you have seen the movie Frozen you might see similarities between Elsa and Cressa, she is based off of her in a way but the eventual storyline will end differently, okay just doing another disclaimer! I don't own any of the harry potter characters they belong to J K Rowling! Bye :)**


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